Kawaihae man indicted for Kona musician’s murder

Kawaihae man indicted for Kona musician’s murder

Kawaihae man indicted for Kona musician’s murder

Robert Keawe Lopaka Ryder

West Hawaii Today

A Hawaii Island grand jury has indicted a Kawaihae man for murder in the death of a Kona musician last year.

Police today arrested Martin Frank Booth and charged him with second-degree murder for the death of Robert Keawe Lopaka Ryder, 37, of Kailua-Kona. Ryder’s body was discovered in South Kohala in March. His family told police they had not heard from him since November 2013.

Police arrested Booth, who is currently in custody on other charges, at the Kona police station this morning.

Detectives located the human remains March 10 on vacant land between Queen Kaahumanu Highway and Puako Beach Drive. They used dental records to identify Ryder of Kailua-Kona, who had been reported missing Jan. 17.

During an autopsy conducted on March 12, the medical examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and that the manner of death was homicide.

At that time, detectives from the Area II Criminal Investigations Section reclassified the case to a murder. During their investigation, they developed evidence linking Booth to the crime.

Booth has been incarcerated at Hawaii Community Correctional Center since February pending trial on an assortment of charges, including meth trafficking and firearm offenses.

While in the custody of the Department of Public Safety, he was transported to the Kona police station Thursday morning on the arrest warrant for the grand jury indictment.